


Late One Dreary Night

by Sabeki



Category: The Loud House (Cartoon)
Genre: Sleep, late night
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-25
Updated: 2017-03-25
Packaged: 2018-10-10 10:04:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10435284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sabeki/pseuds/Sabeki
Summary: Luan has a lot to balance, and it's gotten late.





	

It was late, she thought, but it would only get later.

The dull lights of a simple, old-fashioned computer screen lit the basement, something Luan was using so she wouldn’t have to wake anybody up. It had been a long day. Most were, of course, her schedule being piled full of performances and editing and school, and there was barely ever time for a break, except occasionally on nights such as this.

Not that she was actually really on a break, as she was waiting for the edited version of her video to upload and the internet was slow in the basement. It always was.

Somewhere else on her desk was a folder that she used to keep track of supplies, whoopie cushions and streamers and all the little things that made a comedic performance come together when a crowd was antsy. She glanced at it, but didn’t really read, her eyes glazing over whenever she tried to pay too much attention to all the little numbers and boxes. She would go over them tomorrow, hopefully. It didn’t do too well if she let things pile up.

The video clipped forward a little further on the bar, and she took a deep breath. She felt like she was up too late, but Luan always managed to be chipper in the morning. Coffee helped a lot with that.

She felt like Sleep was in the room with her, stalking somewhere just outside of her vision. It always seemed like the days weren’t long enough to pack everything she wanted into the day. If she slept in too much it always felt like she was betraying something of hers, or maybe simply the concept of comedy itself.

The boiler hissed for a few seconds and started to hum, the creaking rhythms of the house once there was no one to interrupt with talking or walking flooding from the pipes to the dark halls. Squeaking, maybe, for a second, either from rats or from pipes. One could never be quite sure. 

Taking a long sip of coffee, Luan pulled her backpack from underneath the desk, hooking it with her leg. Nestled inside were some binders, stacked with papers somewhat haphazardly. It was a little funny to her, that she could be so seriously organized about comedy but let all her school papers be mixed around.

She pulled out her Physics binder, but didn’t open it. It was late, and it lay there on the table as she stared into open space. She needed to find some more time to work on it, but where? Always the question. Never enough damn time in the day.

Something rustled in the corner of the room, and she chuckled to herself.  _ Sleep must be getting  _ tired  _ of me,  _ she thought to herself. Or at least, she hoped it was the concept of sleep. If she wasn’t lucky it would probably just be rats.

Another tick on the screen. Luan groaned and opened the binder. It wasn’t as if she was getting  _ bad  _ grades in Physics, but she wasn’t doing great either. Mom was concerned, and while she couldn’t spend too much time reminding Luan of it, she could get other siblings to.

Today they’d been talking about gravity and space.  _ I should just get Lisa to do this,  _ Luan thought to herself,  _ She’d think it was out of this world.  _ She chuckled a little again, at that. Something screeched, and not the boiler this time.

A yellow light filtered in through the basement steps, and Lincoln peered down into the basement “Luan? Are you still up?”

Luan smiled and waved warmly. “Hey, brother! I’m just finishing up down here, don’t mind me at all.”

Lincoln frowned a bit and stepped down the stairs. “Are you sure? I could get you a drink or something if you like.”

“Nah Lincoln, I got some coffee to keep me going. Besides,  _ you  _ should be in bed.” Luan said, smiling.

“We should both be in bed, Luan. C’mon, let me get you something! I’d feel bad if I didn’t.” Lincoln replied. He’d only gotten up to go to the bathroom, but it didn’t stick well with him that Luan should be up this late with no one to keep her company.

“Awww, Lincoln! That’s sweet of you, but I’m fine. Just go to bed. I’ll be done in a sec.” That was a lie, of course. The internet meant it would probably take at least half an hour until the video finished uploading, and then she had Physics to go through and then probably she’d try to crack into her supply sheet. But Lincoln didn’t have to know that.

“Well, if you say so. Night Luan!” Lincoln said, turning around and heading back up the stairs. When he reached the top he turned his head, and for a moment he seemed as if he wanted to say something, but then the moment passed. He shut the door.

Luan turned back to face the screen. Another tick closer. She looked at her notes, scribbled and sparse. A good chunk of it was space puns, stand-up material, and occasionally a scribbled drawing on the margins, but the basics of it were written down.

_ Sir Isaac Newton is widely credited with the discovery of gravity, having put together some of the first… _

__ _ Sir Isaac Newton is…. Is widely credited with discovery of… _

__ _ Sir Isaac… Newton _

__ Luan’s eyes drifted down. Sleep, it seemed, had not been content to wait for her politely, and thus had taken to bringing her to the drift of dreamless sleep on it’s own. Time passed as Luan snored in the darkness of the basement.

When Luan started awake, she wasn’t sure how long she’d been asleep. She looked around the room, and light wasn’t filtering in, so she hadn’t slept too long. While she’d been sleeping, it seemed someone had taken the liberty of draping a blanket on her, and a fresh cup of coffee (although unfortunately, she noted, somewhat lukewarm) had been placed on the desk. Someone had left a note.

\-- Hey sis, I know you said not to, but I got you a drink anyways. Love, Lincoln.--

Luan smiled, and then stretched. It was late, she thought, but it would only get later.


End file.
